CBC strikes out: caucus members given low marks on pro-business votes.

Is the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) anti-business? Hardly. But you might conclude otherwise if your sources are two business watchdog organizations based in Washington, D.C. The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) create House rankings based on voting patterns on selected business-related issues.

Each year, the CEI, an advocate of free enterprise and limited government, rates members of Congress in seven subcategories. CBC members fared poorly in the 1993 rankings. Only the CBC'S sole Republican member, Rep. Gary A. Franks, had a positive overall rating. Scoring 74, he was among the CEI's top quarter of House members casting so-called pro-business votes. By contrast, Rep. Harold Ford, who had the next highest rating among the other CBC members, scored 15. Former CBC chairman Kweisi Mfume scored 11.

The NFIB had an equally jaundiced view of most CBC members. Each year, it honors members of Congress "who vote 69% of the time or more with small business on key issues." The most recent ratings were based on the voting of the 103rd Congress, from january 1993 to September 1994. The NFIB ranked House members on 10 issues, including property rights and deficit reduction. Rep. Franks scored a perfect 100. The next-highest CBC member, Rep. James Clyburn, scored 30.

Why is there such a gap, considering that so many CBC members serve on the House Small Business and Banking committees and subcommittees? First, although many new CBC members are not civil-rights advocates or labor union veterans, their constituents are, and CBC votes reflect this. Second, in the opinion of many caucus members, the CEI and the NFIB are against programs that create opportunities for minority business.

As a result, the CBC opposed the NFIB on most issues. The caucus voted for 12 weeks of unpaid family and medical leave; economic stimulus spending; taxes to cut the deficit; and for laws prohibiting employers from hiring permanent replacements for striking workers. The NFIB lobbied against each of those measures.

Anthony W. Robinson, president of the Minority Business Enterprise Legal Defense and Education Fund, expects this gap to continue. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization provides information and legal assistance to develop minority business.

Robinson contends that the NFIB and the CEI, unlike the CBC, do not speak for small or minority businesses. "[CBC's] efforts to level the field result in votes rated negatively for big business," he points out.

Of course, concedes Robinson, black business owners are not monolithic. "They are no different [from anybody else] when it comes to watching how government regulations affect their bottom line." But he cautions, some of the issues the CEI and the NFIB oppose would also be opposed within the minority business community.